IP Outreach: World Intellectual Property Day & Trevor Baylis, Inventor: the Clockwork Radio

World Intellectual Property Day: "Intellectual property - It starts with an idea .."

The extensive worldwide press coverage of this year’s World Intellectual Property Day on April 26 confirmed growing recognition of this annual event in marking the importance of intellectual property (IP). Mr. Praveen Dalal, an arbitrator practicing at Delhi High Court, commented on IP Day events in India: "It seems the need for celebration of World IP Day is very pertinent. Public awareness is missing and I hope that celebrations like these will fill that gap." Over 70 Member States and organizations have reported back to WIPO on their World IP Day activities, demonstrating their enthusiasm to make the most of this opportunity to increase public understanding of IP around the world.

Events to mark the day varied from large scale gala evenings with live concerts and award * ceremonies, to local folkloric music and dance festivities, to exhibitions in IP offices. Some countries were celebrating the event at the national level for the first time. Others built on their technology and innovation promotion days dating back long before World IP Day.

The highest concentration of events celebrating World IP Day was reported from countries of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet republics. Kyrgyzstan got off to an early start in March, making effective use of the media and the Internet to promote their very full program of seminars, workshops, exhibitions, awards and tournaments.

Australia aligned their National Innovation Festival with World IP Day for a joint celebration of innovation and creativity. Selected IP ambassadors promoted the event, which featured on television shows, websites and in newspaper articles. The staff of IP Australia joined the fun with a "great debate" and quizzes.

Young people

The Korean Intellectual Property Office focused activities on school children, with an essay competition for young students based on the Korean comic, Copy and paste: What’s wrong? Almost 9,000 students participated in the competition. The Uranga Entity Institute of Kenya, an independent public policy research project, also held an essay competition for high school students based on the IP Day theme.

In Hong Kong, the Intellectual Property Department joined forces with the Hong Kong Scout Association to organize the "Respect for Intellectual Property Rights Fun Fair," with scout groups participating in seminars and workshops. In Malta children aged eight to twelve took part in a drawing competition on the theme "Ideas shape our world." The Office of the Registrar General in Lesotho reported that this year’s theme held "particular appeal to the youths of the country to be creative."

Protecting creators’ rights

Many IP offices targeted specific rights holders. The Burkina Faso Copyright Office invited some 180 rights holders to discuss the nature of their rights and how to exercise them. Belize held a seminar on trademarks...